Transformers made for powering large neon signs are inexpensive and very reliable. Most commonly, the secondary is center-tapped, which prevents the use of its full peak-to-peak output in applications where one of the terminals needs to be grounded. In the power supply described in this post, I took out the high-voltage transformer out of its metallic

Our two prior posts show how to build very high voltage power supplies using flybacks from old color TVs. The advantage of the method we use is that any flyback can be driven, regardless of how its primary is wired. This is because we wind our own primary using litz wire.

High voltage DC power supplies are used by science enthusiasts for powering electron tubes and x-ray tubes, charging high-voltage capacitors, powering electrostatic “levitators”, etc. Many of these power supplies use a flyback transformer to produce high voltage at high frequency (AC), followed by a “Cockroft-Walton Multiplier” to rectify and dramatically increase the voltage. The Cockroft-Walton multiplier

The book’s Figure 32 shows the schematic diagram for a low-cost, variable-voltage PMT power supply based on a BXA-12579 inverter module that is originally designed as a power supply for cold-cathode fluorescent lamps. This under-$20 module produces 1,500VAC at around 30kHz from a 12VDC input. We are posting this picture to help you build your own power

We are posting this picture to help you construct the variable-output, low-ripple, high-stability, high-voltage power supply described in pages 38-40 of “Exploring Quantum Physics Through Hands-On Projects.” The schematic diagrams for this power supply are in the book’s Figure 31. Output voltage (up to 2 kV) and current (up to 1 mA) are monitored via